24 september 2012

Last Sunday, we went to Feira da Ladra (thieves market) in Lisbon. Within an hour, we spotted around 20 typewriters. There was nothing that I wanted to buy, but well, it was nice to have a walk there. After having spotted the first 5 typewriters, I decided to take a picture of every next typewriter I saw in its natural habitat. Here is the result; enjoy!

11 september 2012

Yesterday, the Dutch version of Antiques Roadshow recorded their program near the village of my parents, in the beautiful castle Huis Bergh in 's Heerenberg.

Huis Bergh, www.renealberts.com

This was my chance to increase the amount of typewriter airplay on Dutch television! So I brought my recently acquired Junior Typewriter.

The weather was extremely nice, and it wasn't a punishment to wait an hour before we could start. Once we were in, we were sent to the table of Fred Kats, who is a specialist in clocks, watches and instruments. He opened the small box, saw the typewriter and...

...well, to be short, he didn't call for the cameras to share this amazing find. ;)
Instead, he got several Breker Auction books from under the table and asked me to help him search for a Junior typewriter auction. After several minutes, he found a Junior, which was sold together with a Perkeo, for 70 euros. That would make 35 euros for each typewriter, approximately. But he admitted he wasn't a typewriter specialist and thought it should be more expensive than that. He liked the little machine, but couldn't tell me more about it than I already knew.

After this, we went to the other tables. One guy brought a spectacular painting of steamboats in the harbor, but the specialist wasn't impressed. It was made by a painter who dedicated his life to this kind of paintings, so a lot of his work had survived. He valued it at "a couple of thousands euros" before he lost interest and started asking around for sugar in his tea.

It was interesting to see how things work behind the scenes. Some specialists are just looking for an object that would be nice on tv, other specialists are really interested in everything they see and make a show out of every valuation.

In the end, we were asked to join the public inside for a recording of the valuation of some small silver jewelry that somebody brought. We couldn't resist the opportunity to ask for a picture of us with the presenter, the famous Nelleke van der Krogt (presenting the program for over 10 years now).

And to end with the question that is normally asked after every valuation: what did I pay for the Junior Typewriter?